This post is also available in（こちらの言語版もある）: Japanese
One of the things I start craving when it starts getting cold is of course kabocha, and it’s been getting plenty cold here lately, so it’s the perfect season to enjoy some toasty, spicy little curry kabocha croquettes. Naturally, sweeter curries like the mild variety of House’s Vermont Curry go really well with kabocha, but kabocha is already sweet so it also pairs well with spicier curries as well. Personally, I like both flavor combinations so today I’m uploading a recipe for both.
I found a recipe on Cookpad for kabocha croquettes that uses the mild version of Vermont Curry roux and the sweet honey and apple flavored curry is of course good with kabocha squash so I’ve made it as written multiple times. However, there is also a spicy version of the Vermont Curry roux and I personally really like spicy food, so one day I went for it and tried making half of the recipe with the spicy roux as well. When I tried making this half-and-half version, the ones with the spicy roux weren’t too overwhelmingly spicy and the heat went quite well with the sweet squash, so really both varieties were just as tasty in their own right.
For that reason, I now always make half spicy and half mild and also play around with enhancing the flavor with some added spices like nutmeg and cumin. If you like kabocha and appreciate both the sweet and spicy sides of life, I definitely recommend giving these a shot–they’re actually quite easy. Plus, if you have leftovers, you can store them in the fridge and reheat them to proper crispiness in the toaster oven.
- ¼ kabocha squash (about 400g or 14 oz)
- 150 g (5 oz) of ground pork or ground beef
- ½ onion
- 1 Tbsp butter or margarine
- 1 piece of mild Vermont Curry roux (probably can be found in asian grocery store but any brand of mild curry will work if you can't find it)
- 1 piece of spicy Vermont Curry roux (probably can be found in asian grocery store but any brand of mild curry will work if you can't find it)
- 1 Tbsp ketchup
- Salt and pepper to taste
- Cumin, nutmeg, curry powder, etc to taste
- Flour for dusting
- 1 egg
- 1 Tbsp milk
- Panko bread crumbs for coating
- Oil for frying
- Wash kabocha squash, remove seeds, and cut into slightly bigger than bite size pieces. Boil until a skewer easily passes through. Drain and mash thoroughly with a fork.
- Mince onion.
- Add ½ tbsp butter (or margarine), half of the minced onion, half of the ground meat, mild curry roux, and ½ tbsp ketchup to a hot frying pan and fry over low heat until cooked through. Transfer to a bowl. Add half the mashed kabocha, season with salt, pepper, and nutmeg to taste, stir thoroughly, and form into ping pong ball-size balls.
- Add the remaining ½ tbsp butter, onion, ground meat, ketchup, and spicy curry roux to the frying pan and fry over low heat until cooked through. Add to the remaining kabocha, season with salt, pepper, nutmeg, cumin, and curry powder to taste, stir thoroughly, and form into ping pongball-size balls.
- Dust all the kabocha balls with flour.
- Whisk together the milk and egg.
- Dip the kabocha balls in the egg mixture and then roll in bread crumbs.
- Fry in 350F (180C) oil until golden brown.
Adapted from http://cookpad.com/recipe/2750365
Leave a Reply